WHAT STATE LABOR BUREAUS ARE DOING

Bureau of Labor Statistics, U.S. Department of Labor

WHAT STATE LABOR BUREAUS ARE DOINGSource: Monthly Labor Review, Vol. 14, No. 1 (JANUARY, 1922), pp. 226-233Published by: Bureau of Labor Statistics, U.S. Department of LaborStable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/41828165 .

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WHAT STATE LABOR BUREAUS ARE DOING.

Iowa.

Factory Inspection.

ACCORDING Statistics on to

statistics a report

in which of made

manufactures is

by

included

the Iowa for

Bureau the year

of ending Labor

ACCORDING Statistics on statistics of manufactures for the year ending December 31, Í919, in which is included a report on factory

inspection for the biennium ending June 30, 1920, there were 3,206 establishments with an average yearly number of 75,056 wage earners. The capital invested amounted to $409,282,755; the vearly wages totaled $84,980,847; and the average yearly wages of factory employees, both sexes included, were $1,129.30 as compared with $651.37 in 1915 and $785.22 in 1917. Out of the 3,206 factories only 2,841 reported hours worked per day, the 8, 9, and 10 hour groups being (juite evenly divided. The inspection department consists of three inspectors - two men and one woman, and the deputy commissioner, who, because of a limited force, also does a great deal of inspection work. Following is a comparative table of the inspection work of the bureau for the past four biennial periods:

. ! Number of Peri0d- inspections

jr^t?onsn" Jan. 1, 1912, to Dec. 31, 1913 (2 years) 3, 361 Õ, 540 Jan. 1, 1914. to Dec. 31, 1915 (2 years) 4, 434 5, 814 Jan . 1, 1916. to June 30, 1918 (2% years) 5, 175 3, 193 July 1, 1918, to June 30, 1920 (2 years) 4, 206 2, .>36

In the total 1,898 establishments inspected during the fiscal year July 1, 1919, to June 30, 1920, there were 72,964 employees, of whom 53,936 were males and 19,048, females. Of this number 388 males and 200 females were under 16 years of age.

Conciliation and Arbitration.

The biennial report of the Iowa Bureau of Labor Statistics on the subject of conciliation and arbitration gives an account of the five cases which have come up for arbitration under the arbitration law of July 4, 1915, in the two-year period ending July 1, 1920. Under the Iowa arbitration and conciliation act disputes which do not involve directly or indirectly interstate trade relations and which involve 10 or more wage earners may be brought up for arbitration, when the parties are unable to adjust their differences, upon petition of 25 adult citizens or upon application by various public officers or of the employees or of a majority of the employees, which majority

226 [226]



WHAT STATE LABOR BUREAUS ARE DOING. 227

shall in no case exceed 20 employees. The board consists of three members with a representative each of the employer and the employees involved in the dispute, chosen by the governor from a list of five persons submitted by each side to the controversy, and the third member chosen by these two members and appointed by the governor. The board has full power to summon witnesses, administer oaths, and may demand any evidence it sees fit, whether strictly legal evidence or not, but the award is not compulsory and either party to the dispute may reject the decision of the board and may even refuse to take any part in the proceedings. In case both parties agree to accept the decision it is binding for one year.

Two of the five cases under consideration, those of the Clinton Street Railway of Clinton, and the Iowa Biscuit Co. of Burlington, resulted in definite awards, both of which were accepted, and in the latter case a working agreement was drawn up ana signed by the company and its employees. The three other companies refused to arbitrate, and the governor in each case appointee! the State industrial commissioner to represent the employers upon the board. Testimony was taken in these three cases as in the two cases which were adjusted, but because of the impossibility of enforcing the award it could result in nothing further than recommendations to the employers and employees for peaceable settlement of their disputes.

Free Employment Service.

A report by the state bureau of labor statistics of the operation of the State-Federal Free Employment Service for the two-year period ending June 30, 1920, shows that in that time there were 217,990 registrations of applicants for work, 187,179 persons were wanted by employers, 157,109 applicants were referred to jobs, and 120,405, or 55.2 per cent of the applicants for work, were reported placed. A comparison between the two years shows that there was a much higher percentage of placement in the first year than in the second, in 1918-19 61,9 per cent of the applicants being placed, and in 1919-20 43.9 per cent, a reduction of 18 per cent. In 1919-20 there was an increase in the percentage of women referred to jobs and a large decrease in the percentage of men so referred. Placement of men in the latter year shows a 23.1 per cent reduction and of women a decrease of only 7.1 per cent. The registrations of women are largely in excess of the help wanted in both years, but this excess is due in great measure to the inclusion of the total registration of teacher applicants.

Child Labor.

An analysis of work permits for the two-year period July 1, 1918, to June 30, 1920, published as Bulletin No. 4 by the Iowa Bureau of Labor Statistics, reveals the fact that during the first year of the operation of the law, July 4, 1915, to June 30, 1916, 1,522 work permits were issued to young persons of that State. From July 1, 1916, to June 30, 1918, 4,913 work permits were issued, while in the biennial period July 1, 1918, to June 30, 1920, 7,469 permits were issued. Of these, 4,832 were issued to boys; 2,637 to girls. The report warns against a misinterpretation of this great increase in the employment of child labor. It does not indicate laxity in law

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228 MONTHLY LABOR REVIEW.

enforcement or a more serious situation as regards child lábor. The steady growth of Iowa's industries has necessitated an increase in the number of employees and the number of children employed has increased with that of adult employees. High prices for the necessities of life have led a laiger number of boys and girls between the ages of 14 and 16 to enter industry, either to support themselves or to assist their families, while employers through motives of economy in a time of high wages have employed minors where it was possible to do so without reducing efficiency.

No person under 14 years of age can be employed with or without compensation in any "mine, manufacturing establishment, factory, mill, shop, laundry, slaughter house or packing house, or in any store or mercantile establishment where more than 8 persons are employed, or in the operation of any freight or passenger elevator, or fivery stable or garage, place of amusement, or in thè distribution or transmission of merchandise or messages/' Minors between 14 and 16 years of age may be employed in the occupations named for 8 hours a day between 7 a. m. and 6 p. m. and not exceeding 48 hours in any week and not exceeding 40 nours per week during part- time school term, provided a work permit is issued for every position obtained by each child between 14 and 16 years of age. Further- more, the officer who issues the permit must determine whether the occupation is one in which a child may work, whether the child has received the prescribed education, has reached the legal age, and is physically able to engage in the occupation it seeks.

The law also contains prohibitions upon employment in certain occupations dangerous to nealth or morals. No girl under 21 years of age may be employed in an occupation requiring constant standing, and neither boys nor girls under 18 years of age can deliver goods or messages between 10 p. m. and 5 a. m.

The statistics shown in the following table were secured from the 7,469 permits issuèd during the last two-year period. These have been tabulated and classified so as to show tne number by age, school gráde, height and weight, for 29 cities of the State besides a few towns combined into a miscellaneous group. The number of

boys and girls divided into half-yearly and yearly groups, is as follows:

Age. Boys. Girls, j Age. Boys. Girls.

Half-yearly group. j Yearly group . 14 to 144 years 1, 223 574 14 to 15 years 2, 515 1, 305 14} to 15 years

1,202 731 | 15 to 16 years 2,317 1,332

15 to 15Í years 1,322 679 i 15J to lo years 995 653 ¡ Total, 14 to 16 years 4,832 2,637

Labor Organizations.

Bulletin No. 5 of the Iowa Bureau of Labor Statistics deals with labor organization in the State for the two years ending December 31, 1919. The growth of trade unionism in this period is stated to have been very rapid. The number of craft unions increased from 67 in 1917 to 72 in 1919, the number of locals from 792 to 975, and membership from 53,944 to 81,404, or 50.9 per cent. Membership

[228]



WHAT STATE LABOR BUREAUS ARE DOING. 229,

among women grew from 664 in 1917 to 1,815 in 1919, an increase of 173.3 per cent in the two years under consideration.

The section on unemployment shows that 5,435 union members were out of work at the ena of 1919, of whom 856 were unemployed because of lack of work or material; 1,260 because of weather conditions; 1,433, of whom 1,085 were miners, on account of strike or lockout; 1,210 because of sickness or old age; 403 because of seasonal occupation, and the remainder, 273, for other reasons.

Rates of wages varied so greativ in different localities that no uni- form percentage of increase can be shown, but in general the report states the occupations normally receiving the lowest pay have shown greater increases than the skilled occupations which receive the higher rates.

The strike data is admittedly incomplete, but the bureau's records show 103 strikes involving 11,440 union members, excluding the general strike of the coal miners. The latter strike involved 15,000 members and was included in the injunction proceedings of the Department of Justice before Federal Judge Anderson at Indian- apolis, Ind. Seven lockouts were reported lor the two-year period which lasted from two days to one year, the combined duration being 522 days. All these lockouts resulted favorably for the employees.

Massachusetts.1

AS THE result of an investigation of accidents sustained by em- ** ployees on power punch presses, a committee has been formed to recommend to the Department of Labor and Industries of Massa- chusetts rules and regulations for the proper safeguarding of such machines.

To assist in meeting the problems of unemployment, Gov. Cox has appointed a committee to promote work. This committee is organized with the following subcommittees : Executive committee, national committee, State committee, cities and towns, committee for relief work, committee on merchants and manufacturers, pub- licity committee, committe on reconditioning the Leviathan, committee on unemployment among women.

The department of labor ana industries in cooperation with the United States Employment Service secures monthly from 192 manufacturing establishments in eig;ht principal industrial centers in the State, each normally employing 500 or more, information with reference to the number of persons employed as shown by the last pay roll of the month. The canvass made at the close of November shows a very slight gain in the aggregate number employed in these representative establishments, as compared with a corresponding aggregate at the close of October. The November aggregate, 198,768, when compared with the corresponding aggregate, 191,759, for the close of April shows an increase of 3.6 per cent, representing the improvement from the lowest point of the year.

Of the eight cities, Fall River, Lawrence, New Bedford, and Wor- cester showed fairly encouraging increases in the number employed, 1 Typewritten notes from the Department of Labor and Industries of Massachusetts. Boston, Nov.. 1921. 1 6 * (229]




while Boston, Brockton, and Lowell showed comparatively small decreases.

To the extent that these establishments may be considered as representative, they indicate a continued, although slow improvement in the manufacturing industries of the State.

An advisory council on women and children in industry has been formed to assist the department of labor and industries in this branch of its work. The council consists of individual representa- tives of organizations that are svmpathetically interested in the welfare of working women and children.

In the annual report of the department of labor and industries for the year ending November 30, 1921, recommendations for legisla- tive action are made providing for the enforcement of minimum wage decrees, for expert assistance in certain lines of the department's work, such as industrial health and safety codes, ana for increasing the penalty for the illegal employment of minors.

Publications recently issued by the department of labor and industries include two labor law bulletins, one giving the text of the law relating to the employment of women and children, the other the law relating to the certification of working children. A new edition of the manual of Labor Laws enforced by the department is now in press and will be ready for distribution shortly.

Ohio. ' Union Scale of Wages.

T'HE annual report of the division of labor statistics of the Depart- * ment of Industrial Relations of Ohio relates to union scales of wages and hours of labor and covérs the organized trades in sixteen cities. The report includes agreements in force on May 15, 1921, in the following industries and occupations: Bakeries; building; metal; printing, book and job, and newspapers; transportation, street rail- ways; teamsters and chauffeurs for various industries, and a miscellaneous group. The approximate total of the membership of all local unions covered under this report was 90,000.

In the bakery trade the lowest hourly rate paid in any occupation was 50.92 cents and the highest $1.33 J. The 48-hour week was in force in all cities except Newark, where 54 hours were worked per week, and among Hebrew workers in Cleveland, where the hours of labor were 45. In the building trades the lowest rate, 47 i cents, was paid to glaziers in Cincinnati, and the highest, $1.50, to bricklayers engaged in sewer and tunnel work in Cleveland. The 8-hour day and 44-iiour week prevailed, though there were a few instances where the 54-hour week was in force, and other scales of hours varied between these limits. In the metal trades the lowest rate, 50 cents, was paid to horseshoers in Hamilton and to machinists' helpers in Toledo, and the highest, $1.50, to boilermakers in Cleveland. The hours varied between the 8-hour day and the 44-hour ̂ eek, and the 9-hour day and the 50-hour week, although there were several instances where longer hours were worked, in Steuben ville a 59-hour week being in force for machinists in manufacturing shops and in Portsmouth, a

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60-hour week for molders. Table and machine hands (bookbinders) in Cincinnati received 40.91 cents, the lowest wages paid in the different cities, and lithographers on offset presses, $1.25, the highest rate in the book and job trade, while the rates for newspaper workers ranged from 31J cents per hour for machine tenders assistants in Columbus to $1.21 per hour for pressmen in charge in Cleveland. The 44 and 48 hour week prevailed in the printing trades except in a few instances where 40 and 42 hours were worked. Street car employees worked from 63 to 70 hours, and hourly rates varied from 41 cents to 60 cents. Teamsters and chauffeurs worked on an average 56 and 60 hours a week with a maximum of 73^ and a minimum of 48. Hourly rates varied from 26? cents to 83 J cents. Many exceptions to these rates and hours are noted, overtime, night work, and seasonal conditions operating to modify the agreements.

Porto Rico.

'THE Eighth Annual Report of the Bureau of Labor of Porto Rico * (March, 1921) calls attention to the working conditions in the

Island, especially to those prevailing in the rural districts. According to a recent investigation only 25 per cent of the workingmen visitea in the urban zone were able to meet their subsistence expenses on their wages alone. The situation of agricultural laborers is described as " distressing.'

1 The increase of the population, especially among rural workers, is

is said to be " startling" and measures are needed to prevent employers from carrying on their enterprises in total disregard of the most rudi- mentary hygienic requirements.

The lack of sufficient appropriations for the bureau of labor is repeatedly referred to in the report, and recommendation is submitted for a reorganization of that office.

Minimum Wage f or Women.

Early in the last quarter of 1920 the industries employing the

freatest egan gradually number

to of

reduce women

their benefiting

forces. under

By the the

end minimum

of the year wage

75 law, per egan gradually to reduce their forces. By the end of the year 75 per

cent of the shops were closed and from an approximate total of 30,000 women who had been receiving a salary oi $1 per day only 20 per cent were permanently employed.

In December, 1920, the Supreme Court of the island handed down a decision settling all cases regarding piecework in workshops and factories. Various employers affected by this decision have deter- mined to close their shops, refusing to pay the stipulated wage. Home work is on the increase.

The apprenticeship term, which is fixed at three weeks in all trades, involves particular difficulties in this island where the lack of skilled labor constitutes a serious problem. An amendment to this provi- sion is advocated. It is suggested as a possible satisfactory arrange- ment that the bureau of labor might be given the discretionary power of fixing the apprenticeship term in accordance with the trade or that a commission be created to regulate wages.

Í231]




Woman and Child Labor.

In matters relative to the working conditions of women and children employers are deaf to the repeated verbal and written advices of the bureau of labor and in case of prosecution secure a favorable decision by submitting evidence in their behalf from unscrupulous workers.

During the year, up to December, 1920, visits were made to 558 workshops and factories in which there were 16,416 women and 2,663 men assistants; to 86 mercantile establishments in which women were employed as cashiers; and to 33 agencies and 347 sub- agencies for blouses, with 13,462 needleworkers.

The chief of the bureau of labor declares that "it was not possible to find a single establishment where the law governing sanitary conditions of the shops was strictly complied with."

Regarding notices in re hours of labor, there are some employers who not only do not apply for blank forms in this connection but who have destroyed sucn forms when furnished with them.

Wage Claims (or Farm Labor.

The defects of the law with reference to the settlement of the wage claims of agricultural workers are pointed out, among such defects being the failure of the act to provide adequate means for carrying out its provisions. It is suggested in thelmreau's report that the representative of the department of agriculture and labor who handles the workers' claims ̂should be a lawyer or that a judicial officer of the department of justice or a local attorney be assigned to handle the case. The law should also be extended to include the urban zones. The bureau of labor has been able to adjust satis- factorily 20 per cent of the 194 wage claims of workers residing in the urban zone during 1920.

inspection of Scaffolds.

Workmen cooperate with employers in the constant violation of the law relating to the inspection of scaffolds, which is the only Porto Rican law for the prevention of accidents. Most of the building construction, painting, and repairing is done on defective scaffolds until they are inspected. Need oí Inspectors.

In discussing some of the details of the frequent and flagrant violations of the insufficient labor legislation of the island, the chief of the bureau of labor states that employers are convinced that his office lacks "the personal authority and restraining power" strictly to enforce existing labor legislation, and they will continue in this attitude so long as the bureau has no adequate body of inspectors and until the employers realize that it is a benefit to themselves to safeguard the health and lives of their workers.

Emigrant Contracts.

Various groups of Porto Rican emigrants have contracted to work in other countries without applying m the matter to the department of agriculture and labor, and when employers have violated

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these contracts the department, having no part in them, can do nothing in behalf of tne complainants. As a means of preventing similar occurrences in the future the bureau has recently utilized all the island newspapers to set forth the workmen's rights in such cases, to suggest the possible dangers of contracts in which the department has no part, and to make known the difficulties of employment abroad unless emigrants are provided with sufficient guaranties against the fear of employers not living up to their contracts. Copies of these publications were furnished to* workmen's organizations and also sent to the homes of hundreds of rural workers, among which the recruiting propaganda was more active. "It has not been possible to prosecute those employers who have made a mockery of the good faith of the contracted workmen and of the best purpose of the legislature." If the law were amended to include possible evasions and severe punishments for violations, it might prevent "the increase in the number of native exiles who succumb to. misery in far-away countries, victims of their involuntary ignorance."

Homestead Commission.

The work of the homestead commission for the establishment of laborers' quarters is commended. The report states that 360 houses are being built in a healthful and picturesque locality near San Juan. It is expected that the legislature will autnorize somewhat similar projects in other localities.

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